Tendo



Tendo (天童 Tendō) is a city in Yamagata, Japan, known for exactly one thing: making pieces for shogi, also known as Japanese chess.

Understand
Local estimates claim that as many as 95% of the shogi pieces produced in Japan are made in Tendo. (Presumably, this was phrased to exclude any plastic sets that are made abroad.) Originally, only Yamagata wood was used in making shogi pieces. Today, wood imported from Cambodia, China, and Thailand fills the bulk of production, while native Japanese boxwood from Kagoshima and Mikurajima is reserved for the high-grade pieces.

Shogi is believed to have come to Japan in the Heian period, and it shares a common ancestor with Western chess. It also shares some pieces and strategies with chess, though pieces can be promoted to gain new movements, and captured pieces can be returned to play as turncoats against their original owner.

Tourist information site
The local tourist association has a Japanese-only guide site. with integrated Google Translate.

Get in
JR Tendo Station is on the Yamagata Shinkansen, about three hours from Tokyo and one stop north of Yamagata. It's also on the JR Ou Main Line between Fukushima and Aomori, about 20 minutes from Yamagata.

Get around
Everything is within walking distance of the station, either in the station building itself or down the main street, Kamatahoncho, east of the station. As you head down Kamatahoncho, keep an eye out for the tobacco shop with an homage to Magritte's "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" along the way, as well as a couple of giant shogi pieces to pose with.

Do

 * Ningen Shogi (人間将棋), literally "human shogi", is held annually as part of Tendo's cherry blossom festival, on a Saturday and Sunday near the end of April on Mt. Maizuru. Warriors in full armor and kimono-clad maidens move between spaces at the command of their warlords/players, while the audience watches from the nearby hillside.
 * There are onsen at the hotels east on Kamatahoncho.

Buy
Shogi pieces make nifty souvenirs. Expect to pay about ¥1000 for a single piece with the character stamped directly on the wood (oshi goma), depending on the size. These are handsome for display, even if they wouldn't suffice for tournament play. Pieces that were painted and lacquered (kaki goma) by machine begin at ¥2000; prices for hand-carved pieces escalate quickly, depending on the quality of the wood involved, to ¥80,000 and up for the highest-grade (moriage goma).



Sleep

 * There are a couple of hotels further east down Kamatahoncho with onsen.
 * There are a couple of hotels further east down Kamatahoncho with onsen.

Go next
For local options:
 * There's a museum dedicated to a shogi master in Kurashiki in Okayama prefecture.
 * Yamagata
 * Higashine
 * Kaminoyama
 * Kahoku
 * Sagae
 * Nakayama
 * Yamanobe
 * Obanazawa
 * Murayama